
My Baby Rides the Short Bus
The Unabashedly Human Experience of Raising Kids with Disabilities
In lives where there is a new diagnosis or drama every day, the stories in this collection provide parents of “special needs” kids with a welcome chuckle, a rock to stand on, and a moment of reality held far enough from the heart to see clearly. Featuring works by “alternative” parents who have attempted to move away from mainstream thought–or remove its influence altogether–this anthology, taken as a whole, carefully considers the implications of parenting while raising children with disabilities.
About the book
In lives where there is a new diagnosis or drama every day, the stories in this collection provide parents of “special needs” kids with a welcome chuckle, a rock to stand on, and a moment of reality held far enough from the heart to see clearly. Featuring works by “alternative” parents who have attempted to move away from mainstream thought–or remove its influence altogether–this anthology, taken as a whole, carefully considers the implications of parenting while raising children with disabilities.
From professional writers to novice storytellers including Robert Rummel-Hudson, Ayun Halliday, and Kerry Cohen, this assortment of authentic, shared experiences from parents at the fringe of the fringes is a partial antidote to the stories that misrepresent, ridicule, and objectify disabled kids and their parents.
Contents
- Introduction by Lisa Carver
- The Other Combat Boot Drops • Rebirth (Emily Zolten)
- A Bus(wo)man’s Holiday (Kathy Bricetti)
- The Story So Far (Andrea McDowell)
- Paging Dr. House (Christina Witkowski)
- Evaluating Ezra (Kerry Cohen)
- The Head Game (diagnosis) (Kim Mahler)
- Popeye (Thida Cornes)
- The Letter for Services (Aileen Murphy)
- Enough Acronyms To Make Your Head Spin: Navigating the System & Advocating For Our Kids
- Exile To Bridlemile or Where the @#$%&! is My Village?! (Chloe Eudaly)
- After the IEP (Kim Mahler)
- Play Therapy (Karen Wang)
- Accidental Unschoolers (Heather Newman)
- An Inadvertently Compelling Argument for National Health Care in Five Mutually Incriminating Scenes (Ayun Halliday)
- Watching My Son Grow: An Illustrated Timeline from Birth to Three Years Old (Joe Dimino)
- Authentic Activism (Maria June)
- Interpreting the Signs (Andrea Winninghoff)
- Seen, Heard, Respected, and Believed
- What I Said, and What I Didn’t Say (Sharis Ingram)
- Jackpot! (Amy Saxon Bosworth)
- What Should Have Been… (Megan Raines Wingert)
- Building Bridges into Ordinariness (Ziva Mann)
- Diagnosis Invisible (Stephanie Sleeper)
- A View through the Woods (Christy Everett)
- My Friend Christine (Marcy Sheiner)
- Scout (Robert Rummel-Hudson)
- How Do We Do It? Respite, Community Support, and Transitions
- My Mama Drove the Short Bus (Sabrina Chapadjiev)
- How I Met Jennyalice (Shannon Des Roches Rosa)
- No Use in Crying (Jennifer Byde Myers)
- Life Among the Doozies (Anonymous)
- Glass Houses (Sarah Talbot)
- Small Victories (Elizabeth Aquino)
- Dragonflies and Inky Blackness: Raising a Child with Asperger’s Syndrome (Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg)
- Families: When the Balancing Act Induces Vertigo
- Our Closet (Diana Robinson)
- “Because He’s Retarded, Ass!” (Amber E. Taylor)
- And We Survive (Nina Packebush)
- Thanksgiving (Kim Mahler)
- Dual Parentship Status (Jennifer Silverman)
- Taking the First Step (Yantra Bertelli)
- This is What Love Looks Like (Andrea S. Givens)
- Righteous Resources
- What Do You Know: A Little Practical Advice After All
- A User’s Guide to Self-Help Literature (Or, Who’s the Real Expert Here, Anyway?) (Dr. Mitzi Waltz)
- Special Needs Trusts: The Lowdown
- Glossary of Terms
- Resources
- Contributors’ Biographies
- Acknowledgments
- Index